System and method for a patient-invisible laser treatment alignment pattern in ophthalmic photomedicine

ABSTRACT

An ophthalmic illumination method and system with a head-up display imaging system is provided wherein a therapeutic light is generated by a first laser light source configured to generate therapeutic light and a near-infrared wavelength of an alignment pattern is generated by a second laser light source, where the therapeutic light is directed upon an eye to be examined or treated in accordance with the alignment pattern.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is generally directed to ophthalmic photomedicine,and more specifically to systems and methods for generating lasertreatment alignment patterns on a patient's eye.

BACKGROUND

Ophthalmic photomedicine (e.g., laser treatment or laser surgery)employing multiple-spot laser therapy is widely used today to treatvarious conditions of the eye such as diabetic retinopathy andage-related macular degeneration. Typically, multiple-spot laser therapyis performed by utilizing a slit-lamp-mounted laser treatment device orprobes that are inserted into the patient's eye. In a slit-lamp-mountedlaser treatment device, a slit lamp is arranged to allow illuminationand microscopic viewing of a patient's eye. Slit lamps used in lasertreatment or laser surgery typically include a high-brightnessilluminator, which can be focused to shine a desired light pattern intoa patient's eye, and a microscope mounted on a shared pivot point. Theshared pivot point allows the viewing angle of the illuminator andmicroscope to be changed as often as desired without moving the field ofillumination or visualization.

Laser treatment or laser surgery also requires the high-precision aimingof a treatment laser beam. A visible wavelength (e.g., 400-700 nm)aiming beam is often used to generate an alignment pattern (e.g., one ormore spots, or a scanned image) that marks a target area on or within apatient's eye for guiding the treatment beam. The separate aiming beamand treatment beam are typically combined to propagate in a shared path,and both beams are projected onto the target area on or within thepatient's eye. For example, a physician who is viewing the patient's eyecan adjust the alignment pattern such that it overlays the desiredtarget area. The physician may then activate the treatment beam, whichis coincident with the alignment pattern. In this configuration, thealignment pattern is a so-called “real” image because the image is anactual pattern of light projected onto, and subsequently viewed from,the actual target area.

While the use of a visible wavelength aiming beam that is coincidentwith the treatment beam at the targeted eye structure works well in mostsituations, this technique does have certain shortcomings. For example,because the aiming beam is optically coupled to the patient's eye, thepatient sees the alignment pattern before and/or during treatment, whichcan increase patient anxiety during the procedure. There may also beassociated safety and/or discomfort issues because the aiming beamirradiance is generally higher in the patient's eye than in thephysician's eye. Further, in some procedures it is preferable for thepatient to not see the aiming beam at all. For example, in treatmentnear the eye's macula (i.e., the central region of highest visualacuity) the patient may inadvertently fix their gaze on the aiming beamresulting in unintended destruction of the patient's central vision.

Therefore, a need exists for an improved technique for generatingalignment patterns in ophthalmic procedures.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE EMBODIMENTS

An ophthalmic photomedicine method and apparatus is provided that allowsfor the generation of an alignment pattern (i.e., treatment pattern)during procedures such as laser surgery or laser treatment where thealignment pattern is visible only to the individual (e.g., physician)administering the surgery or treatment but not the intended patientthereof.

In accordance with an embodiment, a first optical element is configuredto direct light from a light source upon an organic object,illustratively, the eye of an individual (Le., patient) to be examinedand treated. A micro-display projector forms a second optical elementand is configured to generate a micro-display image includinginformation associated with the eye to be examined. The micro-displayprojector may include one of a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS),digital-micro-mirror (DMD) or micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)micro-scanner, and one of a light-emitting diode (LED) or red-green-blue(RGB) laser light source. A third optical element is configured to (i)receive reflected light from the eye resulting from the light directedupon the eye; (ii) receive the micro-display image; and (iii) transmitat least a portion of the reflected light and at least a portion of themicro-display image.

Advantageously, in accordance with an embodiment, the system providesfor a “real” alignment pattern where the aiming light is actuallyprojected onto the target tissue (e.g., the patient's retina) andreal-time image sensing is facilitated. In an embodiment, an alignmentlaser source generates a near-infra-red (NIR) alignment wavelength(i.e., an NIR aiming laser) for forming an alignment pattern forprojection on a target tissue of the eye. As such, this eliminates theneed for any superimposed target patterns on the patient's eye given theprojection of the aiming light onto the target tissue.

In accordance with an embodiment, the third optical element may befurther configured to transmit a stereoscopic image of the portion ofthe reflected light and the portion of the micro-display image. Thethird optical element may be a beam-splitter.

These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing systemin accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an ophthalmic illumination method inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIGS. 3A and 3B show images of an aiming beam projected by a heads-updisplay system in accordance with an embodiment; and

FIG. 4 shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary computer thatmay be used for the various embodiments herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing system100 in accordance with an embodiment. Ophthalmic illumination andmicroscopic viewing system 100 comprises a laser generation system 101,laser delivery system 110, observation optical system 111, illuminationoptical system 108, Near-Infra-Red (NIR) imaging system 112, and aHeads-up (or Head-up) display (HUD) system 113.

Laser generation system 101 includes a treatment laser source 102 and analignment laser source 103 and may be illustratively operated by user130 (e.g., a treating physician or other practitioner) who is examiningpatient 120. Laser generation system 101 is communicably coupled with acontroller 107 which is communicably coupled with a graphical userinterface 116. Treatment laser source 102 generates therapeutic light(i.e., “treatment laser”) 104 to be used for treatment of an organicobject, illustratively, patient's eye 120-1 or patient's eye 120-2.Alignment laser source 103 generates a near-infra-red (NIR) alignmentwavelength (i.e., “NIR aiming laser”) 105 for projection on a targettissue of the patient's eye 120-1 in a form of an alignment pattern.Laser generation system 101 is configured to couple treatment laser 104generated by treatment laser source 102 with NIR aiming laser 105generated by alignment laser source 103 into one or more optical fibers106 to propagate coupled treatment laser 104 and NIR aiming laser 105 tolaser delivery system 110. It will be understood that any referenceherein to patient's eye 120-1 will apply equally to patient's eye 120-2and for ease of explanation herein below, reference to patient's eye120-1 will be utilized. Similarly, it will be understood that anyreference herein to user's eye 130-1 will apply equally to patient's eye130-2 and for ease of explanation herein below, reference to user's eye130-1 will be utilized.

Laser delivery system 110 is a component of an observation opticalsystem 111 configured to propagate coupled treatment laser 104 and NIRaiming laser 105 through the observation optical system 111 to patient'seye 120-1. Observation optical system 111 is configured to provide adirect magnified view of patient's eye 120-1 to user's eye 130-1 and/oruser's eye 130-2. Illumination optical system 108 is configured toilluminate the patient's eye 120-1 with visible light 124 and nearinfrared light 109.

In the embodiment, NIR imaging system 112 includes a charge-coupleddevice (CCD) 114. The NIR imaging system 112 is positioned to captureand direct an NIR wavelength 121 scattered from the eye tissue of thepatient's eye 120-1 to CCD 114. In an embodiment, CCD 114 includes anotch filter configured to attenuate wavelengths other than the NIRaiming laser 105. The NIR imaging system 112 may include a beam-splitterconfigured to perform the operations of directing NIR wavelength 121scattered from the eye tissue of patient's eye 120-1 to CCD 114. Anexemplary beam-splitter may include a glass or plastic cube, ahalf-silvered mirror (e.g., a sheet of glass or plastic with a thincoating of metal or dichroic optical coating) or a dichroic mirroredprism. In the embodiment, instead of a notch filter, CCD 114 may includea long-pass NIR filter to overlay NIR image of patient's eye 120-1 witha direct view.

HUD system 113 is configured to receive the NIR image of the patient'seye 120-1, superimpose the NIR image of the patient's eye 120-1 withdirect image of patient's eye 120-1 and propagate the superimposed imageof patient's eye 120-1 to user eye 130-1. In an embodiment, the HUDdisplay system 113 includes a light source, microdisplay, collimatingoptics, beam splitting optics for providing images to the observationpaths (e.g., left and right paths), and beam-splitters in theobservation path for directing visible light toward user 130.

In the embodiment, optical fiber 108, in which the treatment laser 104and NIR aiming laser 105 are co-aligned and coupled, is routed throughlaser delivery system 110 to observation optical system 111 (e.g.,ophthalmoscope). Further, controller 107 is configured to generate andtransmit user commands to laser generation system 101 based on userinput received via GUI 116. Controller 107 may also be configured toreceive inputs from one or more external sources (e.g. a camera flashtrigger or a computer processing real-time slit-lamp video). It is to beunderstood that GUI 116 may be a touch-screen display, LCD with amouse/trackpad interface, and the like.

In the embodiment, ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewingsystem 100 is configured to employ the same fiber(s) for treatment laser104 and NIR aiming laser 105. In an alternative embodiment, ophthalmicillumination and microscopic viewing system 100 may be configured toemploy separate (i.e., different) fibers dedicated for treatment laser104 and NIR aiming laser 105 within laser delivery system 110.

In accordance with an embodiment, the observation optical system 111 isconfigured to propagate a composite image of the patient's eye 120-1with an overlaid image of an alignment pattern where five to fifteenpercent (5-15%) of light is associated with the overlaid image,resulting in a high-quality overlaid image of the patient's eye 120-1.For example, about ninety percent (90%) of the overlaid image passesthrough the beam splitter. The overlaid image is practically invisiblewhen only about ten percent (10%) of the overlaid image is transmitted.One skilled in the art will appreciate that other ratios of projectedlight allowed to be passed through are possible. Further, in anembodiment, the observation optical system 111 is configured topreferably allow between about ninety to ninety-nine (90-99%) of thereflected light 124 to pass through from patient's eye 120-1 toward user130 (and user's eye 130-1). For example, about one percent (1%) of thereflected light 124 is lost when the observation optical system 111 isconfigured to allow ninety-nine (99%) of the reflected light 124 frompatient's eye 120-1 to pass through toward user 130 (and user's eye130-1). Again, one skilled in the art will appreciate that other ratiosof reflected light 124 allowed to pass through or be reflected arepossible.

When the ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing system 100 isusing a “real” alignment pattern, the NIR aiming laser 105 is actuallyprojected onto the target tissue. Actual projection of NIR aiming laser105 onto the target tissue of patient's eye 120-1 has a distinctadvantage over the “virtual” approach described above in that theobserved (via HUD system 113) aiming beam defocuses realistically, sincewhat is being imaged on retina of the patient's eye 120-1 is an actualdefocused NIR aiming laser 105 rather than a virtual projection. Thatis, user 130 directly observes (illustratively, user's eye 130-1)patient's eye 120-1 through the observation optical system 111, and aview of the retina of patient's eye 120-1 in NIR light (showing only theaiming laser 105) is superimposed on the direct view with the HUD system113.

A light scattered from target tissue of the patient's eye 120-1 iscollected within the observation optical system 111. Visible light 124is directly viewed by user eye 130-1 through an eyepiece of theobservation optical system 111. The NIR aiming laser 105 is reflected asreflection wavelength 121 into the NIR imaging system 112. The NIRimaging system 112, using, for example, a notch filter, attenuates allwavelengths outside the narrow band corresponding to the wavelength ofNIR aiming laser 105. Upon receiving reflection wavelength 121 of NIRaiming laser 105, the NIR imaging system 112 generates video imageframes of NIR beam on eye tissue of the patient's eye 120-1 andtransmits the generated video image frames to the HUD display system113.

It is to be understood that a composite image of patient's eye 120-1with an overlaid image of the alignment pattern may also includeconcurrent information, including any type of image or data that may beassociated with patient's eye 120-1. For example, concurrent informationmay include patient information, the current time and date, or otherinformation that may be of use in a clinical environment. In anotherexample, concurrent information may include measurement information,such as a measurement axis, distance, area, scale or grid. Measurementinformation also may include a current illumination area diameter,current slit width, inter-slit spacing, current filter choice,micrometer scale labeling, or circle/ellipse radii, ratios and areas.

When illumination system 108 is used in conjunction with therapy systemsincluding laser systems and other equipment, concurrent information mayinclude one of a treatment parameter or a preoperative image, treatmentplan, an aiming beam pattern indicator or a treatment beam targetindicator. In yet other example, concurrent information may includeinformation regarding treatment laser parameters, such as, e.g., power,spot-size and spacing.

In an alternative implementation of ophthalmic illumination andmicroscopic viewing system 100, alignment laser source 103 generatingNIR aiming laser 105 may be located within laser delivery system 110. Inthis case, laser delivery system 110 is configured to usebeam-shaping/collimation optics to couple treatment laser 104 with NIRaiming laser 105 into one or more optical fibers within laser deliverysystem 110. The one or more optical fibers direct coupled treatmentlaser 104 and NIR aiming laser 105 to patient's eye 120-1.

It is to be understood that laser generation system 101, NIR imagingsystem 112 and HUD system 113 can be implemented in such a way thatthere is no data connection between controller 107, NIR imaging system112 and HUD system 113. In this case, NIR imaging system 112 and HUDsystem 113 detect NIR light in a narrow band corresponding to the NIRaiming laser 105 and superimposing NIR aiming laser 105 on the directview of patient's eye 120-1, without data exchange with the controller107. It is also to be understood that the color of the aiming beamprojected by HUD system 113 to the user 130 can be arbitrarily set, asopposed to using an often-used long red wavelengths, to provide maximumuser visibility of an alignment beam.

In an alternative embodiment of ophthalmic illumination and microscopicviewing system 100, NIR aiming laser 105 may be generated by treatmentlaser source 103 using, illustratively, a residual pump prior tofrequency doubling. In a further embodiment of ophthalmic illuminationand microscopic viewing system 100, NIR aiming laser 105 is configuredto have a shared function with a NIR imaging system 112 (e.g., anoptical coherence tomography (OCT) or scanning laser opthalmoscope (SLO)imaging system). In a further embodiment, ophthalmic illumination andmicroscopic viewing system 100 may be configured to include separate NIRchannel (e.g., free space or fiber-coupled) with polarizer,cross-polarized before CCD 114 to reduce reflections. In an alternativeembodiment, NIR imaging system 112 and HUD system 113 may be configuredto share a common beam-splitter having an internal beam-splitter coatingto reflect the NIR signal and transmit the visible signal at a 90:10split-ratio.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of illustrative operations for an ophthalmicillumination method in accordance with an embodiment. For ease ofillustration, FIG. 2 is discussed below with reference also to FIG. 1.At step 210, a parameter for generating a composite image of patient'seye 120-1 is received. Referring to FIG. 1, controller 107 may beillustratively configured to receive, via GUI 116, a parameter forgenerating the composite image of patient's eye 120-1, wherein theparameter is related to concurrent information relating to patient data,a treatment parameter, a preoperative image, or a treatment plan.Receipt of the parameter by processor 107 initiates an alignment phaseof laser treatment. During the alignment phase, visible or invisible(NIR) aiming laser 105 is selected. In an embodiment, the selection ofvisible or invisible (NIR) aiming laser 105 is implemented as aso-called “aiming visibility” slider bar in GUI where the highervisibility indicator corresponds to visible wavelength and where thelower visibility indicator corresponds to NIR wavelength.

At step 220, a command based on the received parameter is generated forthe laser generation system 101 and for the illumination optical system108. Referring back to FIG. 1, the controller 107 illustrativelytransmits a command to the illumination optical system 108 to generate alight beam 109 to be directed toward the patient's eye 120-1. Light beam109 strikes patient's eye 120-1 and is reflected, generating reflectedlight 124. Reflected light 124 is propagated through the observationoptical system 111 toward the user 130, allowing the user to viewstructures within patient's eye 120-1.

Concurrently, the controller 107 transmits a command to laser generationsystem 101 for the aiming laser source 103 to generate an aiming laser105 based on the parameter. The generated NIR aiming laser 105 isdirected to patient's eye 120-1 via laser delivery system 110 andprojected onto patient's eye 120-1 in the form of an alignment patternin accordance with the command. Laser delivery system 110 scans at leastthe X/Y pattern and modifies beam magnification to create a spotsize/pattern on eye tissue of patient's eye 120-1 (co-aligned withillumination optical system 118) according to user input to controller107 via GUI 116.

At step 230, a composite image of patient's eye 120-1 with an overlaidimage of the alignment pattern using reflection wavelength 121 of NIRaiming laser 105 is generated in the HUD system 113. To generate acomposite image of patient's eye 120-1, the ophthalmic illumination andmicroscopic viewing system 100 is configured to use virtual spot-sizeselection for an alignment pattern or real alignment pattern for the NIRaiming laser 105. At step 240, the composite image 123 of patient's eye120-1 is directed as video image frames for observation to the user 130through the eyepiece of the observation optical system 111. Accordingly,user 130 receives a composite image that includes an image of patient'seye 120-1 and the overlaid image of the alignment pattern propagated bythe reflection wavelength 121 of NIR aiming laser 105. In an embodiment,the composite image of patient's eye 120-1 includes concurrentinformation relating to patient data, a treatment parameter, apreoperative image, or a treatment plan.

In an embodiment, the observation optical system 111 is configured totransmit approximately ten percent (10%) of reflected light 124 andallow approximately ninety percent (90%) of the reflected light to passthrough (i.e., to be lost). The observation optical system 111 also maybe configured to allow approximately ninety-nine (99%) of reflectedlight 124 to pass through toward user 130 and allow approximately onepercent (1%) of the reflected light 124 to be reflected and lost. Assuch, ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing system 100 with amicro-display overlaid image source as disclosed herein may serve as areplacement for a slit-lamp illuminator with a traditional overlaidimage source.

In the case of virtual spot-size selection, single, the laser deliverysystem 110 causes minimally sized NIR spot-size to be aimed on retina ofthe patient's eye 120-1 (using, for example, single mode fiber ordirectly imaged laser diode emitter). Reflected NIR aiming laser iscaptured by CCD 114 which calculates a treatment spot-size parameterwhich is the point-spread function of laser delivery system 110 andobservation optical system 112. A calculated treatment spot-sizeparameter is then communicated from CCD 114 to HUD system 113 viacommunication link 122. HUD system 113 then performs (illustratively byprocessor 115) numerical two-dimensional convolution, in a well-knownfashion, between CCD video image frames and kernel corresponding to truetreatment beam spot-size and HUD system 113 displays the convolved videoimage frames. The convolved video images are the images of “virtual”correctly-sized and appropriately focused/defocused aiming laser 105.

For example, FIGS. 3A and 3B show a series of convolved video imageframes. In particular, FIG. 3A shows convolved image 300 (havingindividual convolved image frames 300-1, 300-2, 300-3, 300-4, 300-5,300-6, 300-7, 300-8, 300-9, 300-10, 300-11, 300-12, 300-13, 300-14, and300-15) with the aiming laser 105 having a convolution kernel modifiedto have a circular top-hat beam shape. Further, FIG. 3B shows convolvedimage 310 (having individual convolved image frames 310-1, 310-2, 310-3,310-4, 310-5, 310-6, 310-7, 310-8, 310-9, 310-10, 310-11, 310-12,310-13, 310-14, and 310-15) with the aiming laser 105 having aconvolution kernel modified to have an annular beam shape. As shown inFIGS. 3A and 3B, respectively, the delivery of the above-describedophthalmic illumination method and system results in correctly-sizedaiming beam with appropriate focusing and defocusing characteristics. Inthis way, in accordance with the embodiments, an ophthalmic procedure(e.g., laser treatment and/or laser surgery) proceeds such that theresponsible health care provider (e.g., physician) has a view of thealignment pattern(s) but not the patient undergoing the procedure. It isto be understood that a convolutional kernel may be modified to changethe beam shape of the aiming laser 105 to be of any arbitrary geometricshape. It is also to be understood that convolution kernel can bemodified to compensate for imperfections in the true NIR beam shape(e.g. stripe from laser diode source).

Alternatively, ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing system100 may utilize an informationally-enhanced aiming beam based onreal-time processing of video image frames. In order to utilize theinformationally-enhanced aiming beam, ophthalmic illumination andmicroscopic viewing system 100 is configured to detect NIR aiming laser105 as being in or near focus (e.g. convolution with nominal spotpattern or maximum contrast detection), and indicate with, for example,a color change of the HUD-projected aiming beam spot. Alternatively (orconcurrently), when it is determined that NIR aiming laser 105 is infocus, ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing system 100 isconfigured to project a circle around the beam to identify a “thermaldamage zone” which is pre-computed using a computational model oflaser-tissue heating or taken from clinical burn appearance database fordifferent spot-size/pulse duration combinations (as described, e.g., inDaniel Palanker et al. “The Impact of Pulse Duration and Burn Grade onSize of Retinal Photocoagulation Lesion: Implications for PatternDensity ” Retina 31.8 (2011): 1664-1669.)

As detailed above, the various embodiments herein can be embodied in theform of methods and apparatuses for practicing those methods. Thedisclosed methods may be performed by a combination of hardware,software, firmware, middleware, and computer-readable medium(collectively “computer”) installed in and/or communicatively connectedto a user device. FIG. 4 is a high-level block diagram of an exemplarycomputer 400 that may be used for implementing a method for ophthalmicillumination in accordance with the various embodiments herein. Computer400 comprises a processor 410 operatively coupled to a data storagedevice 420 and a memory 430. Processor 410 controls the overalloperation of computer 400 by executing computer program instructionsthat define such operations. Communications bus 460 facilitates thecoupling and communication between the various components of computer400.

The computer program instructions may be stored in data storage device420, or a non-transitory computer readable medium, and loaded intomemory 430 when execution of the computer program instructions isdesired. Thus, the steps of the disclosed method (see, e.g., FIG. 2) andthe associated discussion herein above can be defined by the computerprogram instructions stored in memory 430 and/or data storage device 420and controlled by processor 410 executing the computer programinstructions. For example, the computer program instructions can beimplemented as computer executable code programmed by one skilled in theart to perform the illustrative operations defined by the disclosedmethod. Accordingly, by executing the computer program instructions,processor 410 executes an algorithm defined by the disclosed method.Computer 400 also includes one or more communication interfaces 450 forcommunicating with other devices via a network (e.g., a wirelesscommunications network) or communications protocol (e.g., Bluetooth®).For example, such communication interfaces may be a receiver,transceiver or modem for exchanging wired or wireless communications inany number of well-known fashions. Computer 400 also includes one ormore input/output devices 440 that enable user interaction with computer400 (e.g., camera, display, keyboard, mouse, speakers, microphone,buttons, etc.).

Processor 410 may include both general and special purposemicroprocessors, and may be the sole processor or one of multipleprocessors of computer 400. Processor 410 may comprise one or morecentral processing units (CPUs), for example. Processor 410, datastorage device 420, and/or memory 430 may include, be supplemented by,or incorporated in, one or more application-specific integrated circuits(ASICs) and/or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

Data storage device 420 and memory 430 each comprise a tangiblenon-transitory computer readable storage medium. Data storage device420, and memory 430, may each include high-speed random access memory,such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory(SRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRRAM), or other random access solid state memory devices, and may includenon-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devicessuch as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical diskstorage devices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices,semiconductor memory devices, such as erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile discread-only memory (DVD-ROM) disks, or other non-volatile solid statestorage devices.

Input/output devices 440 may include peripherals, such as a camera,printer, scanner, display screen, etc. For example, input/output devices440 may include a display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT),plasma or liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor for displayinginformation to the user, a keyboard, and a pointing device such as amouse or a trackball by which the user can provide input to computer400.

It should be noted that for clarity of explanation, the illustrativeembodiments described herein may be presented as comprising individualfunctional blocks or combinations of functional blocks. The functionsthese blocks represent may be provided through the use of eitherdedicated or shared hardware, including, but not limited to, hardwarecapable of executing software. Illustrative embodiments may comprisedigital signal processor (“DSP”) hardware and/or software performing theoperation described herein. Thus, for example, it will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that the block diagrams herein representconceptual views of illustrative functions, operations and/or circuitryof the principles described in the various embodiments herein.Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flowcharts, flow diagrams,state transition diagrams, pseudo code, program code and the likerepresent various processes which may be substantially represented incomputer readable medium and so executed by a computer, machine orprocessor, whether or not such computer, machine or processor isexplicitly shown. One skilled in the art will recognize that animplementation of an actual computer or computer system may have otherstructures and may contain other components as well, and that a highlevel representation of some of the components of such a computer is forillustrative purposes.

Systems, apparatus, and methods described herein may be implementedusing digital circuitry, or using one or more computers using well-knowncomputer processors, memory units, storage devices, computer software,and other components. Typically, a computer includes a processor forexecuting instructions and one or more memories for storing instructionsand data. A computer may also include, or be coupled to, one or moremass storage devices, such as one or more magnetic disks, internal harddisks and removable disks, magneto-optical disks, optical disks, etc.

Systems, apparatus, and methods described herein may be implementedusing computers operating in a client-server relationship. Typically, insuch a system, the client computers are located remotely from the servercomputer and interact via a network. The client-server relationship maybe defined and controlled by computer programs running on the respectiveclient and server computers.

Systems, apparatus, and methods described herein may be used within anetwork-based cloud computing system. In such a network-based cloudcomputing system, a server or another processor that is connected to anetwork communicates with one or more client computers via a network. Aclient computer may communicate with the server via a network browserapplication residing and operating on the client computer, for example.A client computer may store data on the server and access the data viathe network. A client computer may transmit requests for data, orrequests for online services, to the server via the network. The servermay perform requested services and provide data to the clientcomputer(s). The server may also transmit data adapted to cause a clientcomputer to perform a specified function, e.g., to perform acalculation, to display specified data on a screen, etc. For example,the server may transmit a request adapted to cause a client computer toperform one or more of the method steps described herein, including oneor more of the steps of FIG. 2. Certain steps of the methods describedherein, including one or more of the steps of FIG. 2, may be performedby a server or by another processor in a network-based cloud-computingsystem, and/or performed by a client computer in a network-based cloudcomputing system. The steps of the methods described herein may beperformed by a server and/or by a client computer in a network-basedcloud computing system, in any combination.

Systems, apparatus, and methods described herein may be implementedusing a computer program product tangibly embodied in an informationcarrier, e.g., in a non-transitory machine-readable storage device, forexecution by a programmable processor; and the method steps describedherein, including one or more of the steps of FIG. 2, may be implementedusing one or more computer programs that are executable by such aprocessor. A computer program is a set of computer program instructionsthat can be used, directly or indirectly, in a computer to perform acertain activity or bring about a certain result. A computer program canbe written in any form of programming language, including compiled orinterpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including asa stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or otherunit suitable for use in a computing environment.

The foregoing Detailed Description is to be understood as being in everyrespect illustrative and exemplary, but not restrictive, and the scopeof the invention disclosed herein is not to be determined from theDetailed Description, but rather from the claims as interpretedaccording to the full breadth permitted by the patent laws. It is to beunderstood that the embodiments shown and described herein are onlyillustrative of the principles of the present invention and that variousmodifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention. Those skilled inthe art could implement various other feature combinations withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An ophthalmic illumination and microscopicviewing system, comprising: a first laser light source configured togenerate therapeutic light; and at least one second laser light sourceconfigured to generate an alignment pattern formed from a near-infraredwavelength, wherein the therapeutic light is directed upon an organicobject in accordance with the alignment pattern.
 2. The ophthalmicillumination and microscopic viewing system of claim 1, wherein theorganic object is an eye under examination.
 3. The ophthalmicillumination and microscopic viewing system of claim 2, wherein thetherapeutic light and the alignment pattern are co-aligned for directionupon the eye.
 4. The ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewingsystem of claim 2, wherein the alignment pattern is visible only to auser of the ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing systemexamining the eye.
 5. The ophthalmic illumination and microscopicviewing system of claim 2, wherein the therapeutic light and thealignment pattern are directed upon the eye in accordance with an X-Ypattern scan.
 6. The ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewingsystem of claim 1, further comprising: a first controller to receive aparameter for selecting a particular wavelength value for thenear-infrared wavelength, and transmit a command based on the receivedparameter to the at least one second laser light source.
 7. Theophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewing system of claim 6,wherein the particular wavelength is the near-infrared wavelength andthe alignment pattern is adjustable according to the near-infraredwavelength.
 8. The ophthalmic illumination and microscopic viewingsystem of claim 2, further comprising: a first optical system to receivereflected light from the eye resulting from the alignment pattern beingdirected thereupon, and transmit at least a portion of the reflectedlight to a charge-coupled device.
 9. The ophthalmic illumination andmicroscopic viewing system of claim 8, wherein the charge-coupled deviceincludes a notch filter corresponding to the near-infrared wavelength ofthe alignment pattern.
 10. The ophthalmic illumination and microscopicviewing system of claim 2, further comprising: a processor to generate acomposite image of the eye, the composite image including informationassociated with the eye; and a first optical system to receive reflectedlight from the eye resulting from the reflected light being directedthereupon, receive the composite image, and transmit at least a portionof the received reflected light and at least a portion of light from thecomposite image.
 11. An ophthalmic illumination method, comprising:generating a therapeutic light from a first laser light source;generating an alignment pattern formed by a near-infrared wavelengthfrom a second laser light source, and directing the therapeutic lightupon an organic object in accordance with the alignment pattern.
 12. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the organic object is an eye.
 13. The methodof claim 14, further comprising: generating a composite image of theeye, the composite image including information associated with the eye;and transmitting at least a portion of reflected light from the eyeresulting from the therapeutic light directed thereupon and at least aportion of light from the composite image.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein the alignment pattern is visible only to a user examining theeye.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the therapeutic light and thealignment pattern are co-aligned for direction upon the eye.
 16. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: routing the therapeutic lightand the alignment pattern into one or more optical fibers.
 17. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: receiving a parameter forselecting a particular wavelength associated with the alignment pattern;and adjusting the alignment pattern according to the particularwavelength.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer program instructions for ophthalmic illumination, the computerprogram instructions, when executed on a processor, cause the processorto perform operations comprising: generating a therapeutic light from afirst laser light source; generating an alignment pattern formed by anear-infrared wavelength from a second laser light source, and directingthe therapeutic light upon an eye in accordance with the alignmentpattern.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18wherein the operations further comprising: directing the therapeuticlight and the alignment pattern upon the eye in accordance with an X-Ypattern scan and wherein the alignment pattern is visible only to a userexamining the eye.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 19 wherein the operating further comprising: generating acomposite image of the eye, the composite image including informationassociated with the eye; receiving reflected light from the eyeresulting from the light being directed thereupon; and transmitting atleast a portion of the received reflected light and at least a portionof light from the composite image.